He's gonna have to pull an SAF and get average players to up their game. The one thing Ole did really well is that the players he's acquired from the transfers are long term quality players. No zlatan, Matic types. At this point it won't matter who replaces him if he's sacked. Moyes was the only manager that had a solid 11 players. Woodward has proved time and time again that he's incompetent and can't get his side of the job done.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær | 2021/22 Discussion
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Thats a large portion of our fanbase...
I fear for him if I'm honest. We've strengthen defence but midfield and attack are even weaker than last season. With our EL run and pressing mentality Ole wants out of us - we will run out of gas by end of Feb - if we are already off the pace by then, it could be a repeat of last season sadly.
Gone by Christmas and it's not even gonna be his fault. Hung out to dry
Nothing can or ever will change what he's done as a player for United.
True, but you are talking about exceptional circumstances. Bielsa has always been a nutcase, and Zidane's stock was sky high. There are many examples of managers who get screwed by the ones in charge at times, and they just have to get on with it.
Hopefully, this is a chance to give the young players plenty of game time. The lack of creativity and goals is a big worry though.
Unless he can, you know, coach.
Set up to fail and gone by February.
Well as I've previously alluded to it really depends on exactly how bad things may have gotten by the time we are at the halfway point of the season.
Agreed. But our midfield is stronger than Arsenals defence, which is probably the worst its ever been. Chelsea, with the exception of Kante, are remarkably average and will require one of Pulisic, CHO or Mount to fill Hazards shoes, which they are not ready for. Spurs are Spurs, and will have a shaky period at some point of the season.
I think we have enough quality to make top 4.
To be honest, I can see why people don't like United fans. I don't like United fans that much.
Yes maybe rather than spending £80m on a single defender he should have looked at the possibility of signing Alderweireld at £25m(while giving Tuanzebe more chance) and Pepe for £15m over 5 season and Longstaff at £35m. That would be a strong/excellent window with AWB and James aswell. Pepe was second on the summer right attacker list. It is incredible that we allow him to go to Arsenal.
However, he may be a flop there. But, Pepe had better stats than Hazard before he moved to Chelsea..
Get behind him and pray for miracles. Sometimes miracles happen.
Holier than thou attitude because people think we’ve had a shit window. You can think Ole will do a good job, but he’s been shafted. The squad’s short, lacks quality in midfield and we haven’t replaced the players that have went.
“Spoilt whiny fecks”. They’re allowed an opinion.
I think the first two months are critical for Ole. Dont forget how we ended last season. It was fecking appaling right.
We have a easy opening set of games
Chelsea H
Wolves A
Palace H
Southampton A
Leicester H
West Ham A
If we are not in and around the top 3 or 4 after that then we are fecked
Could be his career done by Christmas unless he actually knows what he’s doing because he’s really going to have to coach in order to succeed.
Seriously?!
- Alderweireld might not want to join? He can now wait a year and negotiate a bigger deal on a free.
Yes maybe rather than spending £80m on a single defender he should have looked at the possibility of signing Alderweireld at £25m(while giving Tuanzebe more chance) and Pepe for £15m over 5 season and Longstaff at £35m. That would be a strong window with AWB and James aswell
- Doesn’t seem like we were in for Pepe. Reports that Bayern didn’t fancy him either, so maybe United’s scouts thought the same.
- Quoted £50m for Longstaff (9 PL Games!). Never getting him for £35m
They've sold the poor bastard down the river. And that was always their intention, anyone who can't see that needs their heads looking at. Low maintenance manager who won't rock the boat. Moyes v2.0. If he can scrape top 4, brilliant. If he fails, sack him and repeat the process - don't worry about the fanbase, they'll believe anything we tell them.
£60m or something stupid, net spend. Second summer running - after finishing SIXTH. We've upgraded our defence but our midfield and attack is considerably worse than last season.
The board should never, ever be forgiven for what they have just done.
Sad part is, they will be.
£60m or something stupid, net spend. Second summer running - after finishing SIXTH. We've upgraded our defence but our midfield and attack is considerably worse than last season.
The board should never, ever be forgiven for what they have just done.
Sad part is, they will be.
He has been hung out to dry this season. We have nowhere near the quality or depth to challenge for a top 4 finish. So much deadwood and only brought in two starters for the first team.
It sounds dramatic but yes, at the top level, I agree. And it isn't even his fault.
He will obviously find work again but will probably be limited to Norwegian football or perhaps a Championship team or similar.
Nah he would have joined if we gave him a large contract. You have to ask yourself why we weren’t in for Pepe? Lingard and Mata superior? I believe Newcastle would have been flexible with their evaluations if we added bonuses up to £50m. Plus, if not Longstaff, Gueye just moves to PSG for like £25m I believe. Another option that would have strengthened our dm position.
If the guy can coach at or around this level he will be fine. Simple as. But it’s not clear if he can yet.
Agree.
Levy wouldn't allow Alderweireld to come here for £25m
Pepe is going to struggle in England. Doesn't progress play quick enough. I'm baffled that someone thought he was worth the cost. (Perhaps a decen't squad option with the price spread over 5 seasons isn't so bad though)
There's not been enough games for any fan to make an accurate oppinion on Longstaff. In this we have to trust our scouts. No noise from other clubs enquiring about him either, which says enough for me.
Set up to fail this season.
Light squad and has to cope with the Europa league
Light squad and has to cope with the Europa league
We'd clearly improved pre season and that was before we signed Maguire. Give him a chance.
I dont why would anyone mix the two, Ole the player and the manager.
Ole’s been handed an awful hand by the Glazers and Ed. I pray to god he is able work miracles with what is a very mediocre looking squad.
One thing I don’t understand is the handling of Lukaku without identifying a replacement. Was it always a plan to not replace Lukaku or did Ed and company fail to land the target. I am scratching my head why we didn’t replace Lukaku.
One thing I don’t understand is the handling of Lukaku without identifying a replacement. Was it always a plan to not replace Lukaku or did Ed and company fail to land the target. I am scratching my head why we didn’t replace Lukaku.
Totally agree. At the very least we should've brought in Mandzukic. He would've provided another option and the kids could've learned off him. We couldn't get Sancho because we cocked up and missed out on Champions League. So instead of reinforcing to make sure it doesn't happen again, we leave our midfield and attack absolutely bare. If Pogba gets injured we are f*cked. Not only that, if you were Pogba why would you stay when we've literally brought in no one to help him. Worse than that we've lost Herrera. It's just staggering short-termism any way you look at it. Then you've got the kids. We're all excited about them, sure. But what pressure you're putting on them. Are they joining a well-oiled machine like the Class of 92? Are they feck. They're joining an absolute clusterfeck. With inexperienced management, a nobhead of a DOF, and a paper-thin team. The absolute best thing we can do right now is get in a good DOF so we can fix this sorry mess. Woodward is a disgrace.
Wouldnt surprise me if Pogba is sold next and we say dont worry we've got James Garner!
We’re so fecked 
I would have liked some more players in. There’s a difference between that and idiots pouring piss all over the players we do have and slating the fecking manager. Half the idiots on here have been losing their shit for the last 2 months over not managing to get a deal done for a Portuguese player we were never fecking interested in anyway.
Whether people want to give him a chance or not, it doesn't matter. He's here, he's getting his chance. I don't know about pre-season though, it's not a great predictor.
PRE SEASON?
Why do people keep claiming this means a bloody thing! Nobody cares about pre-season friendlies! They are glorified training sessions and a money-spinner, nothing more nothing less. Who cares if we played pressing football against a bunch of League 1 standard Australian players?!
If you'd rather we start the season with Bailly (always injured), Phil Jones (same), Smalling (decent but not good enough to anchor a top 4 defense), and Rojo (walking disaster) at CB, then by all means complain about us spending money to upgrade our defense. However, and this again comes back to my original point, blame Ed or the Glazers. If they were willing to spend the money it takes to get multiple top class players in, we would have been able to bring in both a CB upgrade and a RW or attacker upgrade. As it stands, it's looking more and more likely that we were allowed one "big" transfer this window, and we spunked it on Maguire. I'd rather shore up our foundation first before spending our entire budget on the attack, because we have more chance of winning games in the PL if we can defend well and don't ship goals than we do if we had a better attack but a dog crap defense. Just my opinion on the matter.
To your point about money, and this ties into my point above: transfer fees are insane these days, so if you want top quality then you have to pay top dollar. Iwobi (raw and unconvincing) is moving to Everton for 35-40M. 5 years ago he would have cost 10-20M maximum. That's just the reality we live in. People were banging on about how there were loads of cheaper CB alternatives out there, but even those put forward, like Upemacano, would have cost 60-70M (apparently RB turned down a 55M bid from Arse for him). It just goes to show that in today's market, you're either paying top dollar for proven quality, or taking a gamble on an unproven commodity. If we had spent that Maguire money on 3 unproven players instead of 1 proven player, people here would have moaned about us needing top-level talent and not projects and potential. Now that we've spent the money to bring in a proven player, people are moaning about how they'd rather we have spent the money on potential and gotten more players in. Fans want to have their cake and eat it too, and it's insane. If we want proven players, we have to demand that Ed pressures the Glazers to OK multiple big money signings in the same window (as long as we abide by FFP in the process). I don't see how our transfer budget falls entirely on Ole, when there are multiple folks at the club whose responsibility is finances and signings.
I'm not trying to die on a hill for Ole as he has yet to prove himself as a manager, but you seem intent on beating this already dead horse until it's nothing but a mush of blood and bone. I just don't know how you can say with such certainty that Ole is culpable for our failings in the transfer window this year, when there's not much evidence out there to support your argument. Anyway, you clearly aren't changing your mind, and going around and around like this exhausts me. Hopefully we can end this and if you really have such desire to "get me" then we can reconvene next summer and see where the club stands, and what our transfer outlook is.
Everyone looking forward to the coming season then?
I used to claim that Pogba would be sold after the window closes.
I am happy to admit I was wrong as I no longer believe he will be - even Ed and co wouldn't run that risk after the window we've just had, plus other posters were seemingly correct - Real Madrid cannot afford him this summer.
However, one thing that is highly likely is that Pogba downs tools very quickly this season and can you really blame him? Look what the club are giving him to work with in midfield and attack? As much as I find him rather unlikeable and slightly over-rated, Pogba deserves much better team-mates than McTominay, Matic, Martial, Rashford and Lingard. Nobody can argue against that, surely?
I can see him downing tools by mid-September!
Eeeeeh .... We better hope the kids are amazing, or we're stuffed, no matter who the manager is.
I hope the fans don't turn on him if things go south, otherwise things will go ugly considering his legendary status here. We all know who the problems are (Ed and the owners) and we should direct our anger and unsatisfaction at them
He didn't lie. Lukaku played like he didn't want to be there that day. Buh bye.
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